And That Happened

Red Sox 20, Tigers 4: Well, that was something. Eight homers in all for the Red Sox. Two from David Ortiz, who picked up his 2,000th career hit as well. Injury added to insult: Jose Iglesias left the game with shin splints.

Cardinals 5, Reds 4: A 16-inning affair in which Matt Adams homered twice in extra innings, once in the 14th and once in the 16th. The latter, obviously provided the margin of victory. The Cards are two and a half up on Cincinnati for second place. They play their last head-to-head game today. That is, unless you count the Wild Card game for which they are on a collision course.

Athletics 11, Rangers 4: And the West is tied again. A’s bats knock Yu Darvish around like crazy and Jarrod Parker extends his unbeaten streak to 18 games. He hasn’t lost since May 22. Darvish walked six guys in five innings and change. He’s 1-5 against Oakland.

Indians 6, Orioles 4: With this the Indians move ahead of the Orioles and just behind the Yankees in the Wild Card race. Watch out for Cleveland. Yes, the Indians have two teams ahead of them in that race now, but they also play 14 of their final 23 against the likes of the White Sox, Twins and Astros.

Nationals 3, Phillies 2: Roy Halladay is a shell of his former self, but he battled hard with the few weapons he has left after starting out the game with multiple walks and all kinds of other trouble. Of course the Phillies’ pen couldn’t hold a lead for him. They’re exactly like their former selves.

Mets 5, Braves 2: Call it a hunch, but I don’t think Kameron Loe is going to be in the Braves’ playoff rotation. Andrew Brown and Lucas Duda homered off him and Dillon Gee didn’t give the Braves much of anything to work with.

Astros 6, Twins 5: Trevor Crowe knocked in Jonathan Villar in the ninth with the game-winning single. It was the first time in six tries the Astros beat the Twins.

Diamondbacks 4, Blue Jays 3: The Diamondbacks walked off with a Willie Bloomquist single. Then they did what has become their little walkoff celebration: getting muddy. Like, literally adding water to some infield dirt and smearing the guy with mud. This is where the whole “the Diamondbacks are gritty” thing has led. It has also led to them still being seven games out of a playoff spot, but hey, grit.

Giants 13, Padres 5: Pablo Sandoval has had a nightmare season but he hit three homers here, reminding everyone of his Game One performance in last year’s World Series. He had only 10 homers all season coming into this game.

Yankees 6, White Sox 5: CC Sabathia looked OK for a change, allowing three runs in seven and a third. A couple RBIs apiece for Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano. The Yanks sweep the mailing-it-in White Sox. The Yankees are 2.5 back of the Wild Card.

Mariners 6, Royals 4: Kendrys Morales hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning for the winning margin. The Royals used eight pitchers in nine innings because, I dunno, Ned Yost wanted some screen time.

Brewers 9, Pirates 3: I suppose it would be some story if the Pirates went on a 25-game losing streak to end the season and deprive themselves of a winning record. That’s not gonna happen, but it really would be something.

Rays 3, Angels 1: Two homers for Wil Myers, off Jered Weaver no less. In other news, when I was a kid parents knew how to spell their children’s names properly.

Rockies 7, Dodgers 5: Jorge De La Rosa ties for the NL wins lead with 16. Brian Kenny then dropped into the ballpark from his Kill-the-Win-a-Copter wearing a Bane mask, sprayed the crowd with gunfire and told them all that when De La Rosa leads the league in FIP and WAR they have his permission to cheer.